Social Studies

Often called one of the Seven Wonders of Canada, the canoe has played a particularly important role in British Columbia. This seemingly simple watercraft allowed coastal First Nations to hunt on the open ocean and early explorers to travel the province’s many waterways. Always at the crossroads of canoe culture, BC today is home to innovative artists and designers who have rediscovered ancient canoe-building techniques, as well as community leaders who see the canoe’s potential to bring people together in exciting, inspiring ways.

The story of Canoe Crossings begins some fifteen thousand years ago, when, as compelling new evidence suggests, the first humans to reach the Americas did so by canoe down the West Coast. It continues through the centuries, chronicling the evolution of the canoe and its impact on the various people who used it to explore, hunt, trade, fight, race, create, and even heal. The book contains dozens of stories of colourful, passionate people who have contributed to the province’s canoe culture, including a teenager who lived ninety feet up in a tree house while designing and building the world’s longest kayak; a group of high school students who practised on a tiny lake and went on to win several World Dragon Boat Championships; and at-risk Aboriginal youth who reconnected with their traditional culture through annual “big canoe” trips.

Canoe Crossings will appeal to anyone who has ever sought adventure, found solace, or seen beauty in a canoe or wondered about the origins of its design and use in British Columbia and beyond.

Canoe Kids Vol. 1 The Ojibwe of Great Spirit Island is the first issue of a 24 edition series designed as family books for kids all ages. This eight-year project will see the Canoe Kids Team embed with 24 Peoples. The mandate for the full-colour book (161 full colour high res photographs) is Exploring Indigenous Cultures through Authentic Indigenous Voices. The publication balances culture, equity and the environment in a beautiful mix that reminds the reader of the pictorial quality of National Geographic with a more in depth editorial content.

This first issue (in a series of 24) focuses on the Ojibwe People of Great Spirit Island (Manitoulin Island). In 129 pages the reader is introduced to the Ojibwe People who kindly assisted the Canoe Kids staff by allowing access to their traditional territory. Canoe Kids acknowledges the generosity of the Council of Aundeck Omni Kanning and the People of the six Manitoulin communities.

Educator InformationEach edition follows a common theme and features:

1: Compelling and beautiful pictorials that draw you into the stories and place of the featured community
2: The story of the vessel used by the featured Peoples
3: Art and Food
4: A Kids Zone
5: Resources for kids, parents and educators
6: Stories by and of the featured Peoples in each edition
7: Extraordinary pictures of the lives, land and waters of the featured Peoples

The materials are equal parts cultural and environmental. The latter is a natural offshoot of the former as Indigenous cultures are wrapped around and through the lands and water and sky both spiritually and from a harvesting and gathering perspective. Indigenous Peoples have long been the caretakers of Mother Earth and we can all learn from these experts whose message is perhaps more relevant today than ever.

Indigenous communities have always included the little ones in their circles and talk and teach to them in the same way they talk and teach to young adults and adults. Canoe Kids decided to follow that inclusive way of life for the layout of each book. Rather than create editions for different age groups, Canoe Kids decided to have one book for all ages.

CANOE KIDS is an ideal ongoing resource for teachers and is well received in all libraries. Articles are organized and developed so that there are materials for every age group, grade level, subject and interest.

K through 3 use Canoe Kids to read beautiful and ancient stories. There is beautiful original art to explore and a Kids Zone with puzzles, word searches, colouring, cutouts and more. Mid grades use the materials to study the culture, food and wildlife of the featured cultures. Grades 8 through 12 use stories that are more in depth from Dr. David Suzuki about the environment and there are discussion articles about living well and properly with Mother Nature as well as articles about the history and geography of the featured People.

Canoe Kids Vol. 2 The Haida is the second issue of a 24 edition series designed as family books for kids all ages. This eight-year project will see the Canoe Kids Team embed with 24 Peoples the publication designed as a family book for kids all ages. The mandate for the full-colour book (197 full colour high res photographs) is Exploring Indigenous Cultures through Authentic Indigenous Voices. The publication balances culture, equity and the environment in a beautiful mix that reminds the reader of the pictorial quality of National Geographic with a more in depth editorial content.

This second issue focuses on the Haida Nation of Haida Gwaii. In 165 pages the reader is introduced to the Haida People who kindly assisted the Canoe Kids staff by allowing access to Haida territory. Canoe Kids acknowledges the generosity of the Council of Haida Nation, the Haida Museum and the Haida Heritage Centre.

Educator InformationEach edition follows a common theme and features:

1: Compelling and beautiful pictorials that draw you into the stories and place of the featured community
2: The story of the vessel used by the featured Peoples
3: Art and Food
4: A Kids Zone
5: Resources for kids, parents and educators
6: Stories by and of the featured Peoples in each edition
7: Extraordinary pictures of the lives, land and waters of the featured Peoples

The materials are equal parts cultural and environmental. The latter is a natural offshoot of the former as Indigenous cultures are wrapped around and through the lands and water and sky both spiritually and from a harvesting and gathering perspective. Indigenous Peoples have long been the caretakers of Mother Earth and we can all learn from these experts whose message is perhaps more relevant today than ever.

Indigenous communities have always included the little ones in their circles and talk and teach to them in the same way they talk and teach to young adults and adults. Canoe Kids decided to follow that inclusive way of life for the layout of each book. Rather than create editions for different age groups, Canoe Kids decided to have one book for all ages.

K through 3 use Canoe Kids to read beautiful and ancient stories. There is beautiful original art to explore and a Kids Zone with puzzles, word searches, colouring, cutouts and more. Mid grades use the materials to study the culture, food and wildlife of the featured cultures. Grades 8 through 12 use stories that are more in depth from Dr. David Suzuki about the environment and there are discussion articles about living well and properly with Mother Nature as well as articles about the history and geography of the featured People.

Canoe Kids Vol. 3 The Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland (Ktaqamkuk) is the third issue of a 24 edition series designed as family books for kids all ages. This eight to ten year project will see the Canoe Kids Team embed with 24 Peoples. The mandate for the full-colour book (150+ full colour high res photographs) is Exploring Indigenous Cultures through Authentic Indigenous Voices. The publication balances culture, equity and the environment in a beautiful mix that reminds the reader of the pictorial quality of National Geographic with a more in depth editorial content.

This third issue (in a series of 24) focuses on the Mi'kmaq of the Newfoundland and north Atlantic coast. In 150 pages the reader is introduced to the Mi'kmaq People who kindly assisted the Canoe Kids staff by allowing access to their traditional territory. Canoe Kids acknowledges the generosity of the Council of Flat Bay and Conn River.

Educator InformationEach edition follows a common theme and features:

1: Compelling and beautiful pictorials that draw you into the stories and place of the featured community
2: The story of the vessel used by the featured Peoples
3: Art and Food
4: A Kids Zone
5: Resources for kids, parents and educators
6: Stories by and of the featured Peoples in each edition
7: Extraordinary pictures of the lives, land and waters of the featured Peoples

The materials are equal parts cultural and environmental. The latter is a natural offshoot of the former as Indigenous cultures are wrapped around and through the lands and water and sky both spiritually and from a harvesting and gathering perspective. Indigenous Peoples have long been the caretakers of Mother Earth and we can all learn from these experts whose message is perhaps more relevant today than ever.

Indigenous communities have always included the little ones in their circles and talk and teach to them in the same way they talk and teach to young adults and adults. Canoe Kids decided to follow that inclusive way of life for the layout of each book. Rather than create editions for different age groups, Canoe Kids decided to have one book for all ages.

K through 3 use Canoe Kids to read beautiful and ancient stories. There is beautiful original art to explore and a Kids Zone with puzzles, word searches, colouring, cutouts and more. Mid grades use the materials to study the culture, food and wildlife of the featured cultures. Grades 8 through 12 use stories that are more in depth from Dr. David Suzuki about the environment and there are discussion articles about living well and properly with Mother Nature as well as articles about the history and geography of the featured People.

Caribou Skin Clothing of the Iglulik Inuit outlines the various steps involved in the creation of traditional Inuit caribou skin clothing, namely the hunt, preparation, and sewing.

In addition to diagrams and practical instructions, this book is filled with historical information and insights from Elders of the Iglulik region.

Meticulously researched by former Arctic resident and anthropologist Sylvie Pharand, this book can be used as a practical guide to creating caribou skin clothing, as well as a general-interest text for those interested in traditional skin clothing.

For the Anishinaabeg people, who span a vast geographic region from the Great Lakes to the Plains and beyond, stories are vessels of knowledge. They are bagijiganan, offerings of the possibilities within Anishinaabeg life. Existing along a broad narrative spectrum, from aadizookaanag (traditional or sacred narratives) to dibaajimowinan (histories and news)—as well as everything in between—storytelling is one of the central practices and methods of individual and community existence. Stories create and understand, survive and endure, revitalize and persist. They honor the past, recognize the present, and provide visions of the future. In remembering, (re)making, and (re)writing stories, Anishinaabeg storytellers have forged a well-traveled path of agency, resistance, and resurgence. Respecting this tradition, this groundbreaking anthology features twenty-four contributors who utilize creative and critical approaches to propose that this people’s stories carry dynamic answers to questions posed within Anishinaabeg communities, nations, and the world at large. Examining a range of stories and storytellers across time and space, each contributor explores how narratives form a cultural, political, and historical foundation for Anishinaabeg Studies. Written by Anishinaabeg and non-Anishinaabeg scholars, storytellers, and activists, these essays draw upon the power of cultural expression to illustrate active and ongoing senses of Anishinaabeg life. They are new and dynamic bagijiganan, revealing a viable and sustainable center for Anishinaabeg Studies, what it has been, what it is, what it can be.

A compilation of stories that meld both culture and bloodlines, Chilcotin Chronicles by Sage Birchwater is set in the wild and untamed country of central British Columbia’s Chilcotin Plateau. West of the Fraser River, this high country is contained by an arc of impenetrable mountain ranges that separates it from the Pacific Coast. The first inhabitants of this region were fiercely independent, molded by the land itself. Those who came later were drawn to this landscape with its mysterious aura of freedom, where time stood still and where a person could find solace in the wilderness and never be found.

Birchwater reaches back to first European contact in British Columbia when the indigenous population spoke forty of Canada’s fifty-four languages and seventy of Canada’s one hundred dialects. The land known today as the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast was already an entity when Alexander Mackenzie arrived in 1793. Bonds of friendship, mutual support and family ties had long been established between the Dakelh, Tsilhqot’in and Nuxalk, giving cohesiveness to the region. Chilcotin Chronicles is about the men and women caught in the interface of cultures and the changing landscape. Indigenous inhabitants and white newcomers brought together by the fur brigades, then later by the gold rush, forged a path together, uncharted and unpredictable. Birchwater discovers that their stories, seemingly disconnected, are intrinsically linked together to create a human ecosystem with very deep roots. The lives of these early inhabitants give substance to the landscape. They give meaning to the people who live there today.

Before the west was widely settled, photographs provided the first glimpse white society had of the aboriginal people who occupied the hinterlands of the continent. Copying People - a phrase borrowed from the Haida of the Queen Charlotte Islands that means "camera" - is a collection of historical photographs chosen from the vast number of images in museums and archives across North America. Taken by professional photographers, surveyors, anthropologists, civil servants, and tourists, these fascinating images show how early non-Native photographers "pictured" First Nations people and influenced the outside world's perceptions of them.

Many of these photographs attempt to document the "traditional" Indian, with their subjects dressed up in wigs, costumes, and other props provided by the photographer. In an effort to record for posterity what they viewed as a doomed race, the photographers helped construct the "idea" of the Indian in the collective mind of white society. Other photographers used images of Native people for commercial purposes, or pictured their subjects in suits and dresses, hoping to appeal to an audience eager for evidence that Natives were becoming "civilized."

Depicting Native societies under a great deal of stress at a time of tremendous change in their way of life and their environment, the photographs also reveal societies struggling to preserve their cultures and successfully adapting to new economic opportunities. And despite what we might think of their motives, many photographers produced images of remarkable power and enduring beauty.

Covering all of British Columbia, the book represents the work of every important photographer dealing with aboriginal people in the province before World war II. With 140 archival images, Copying People offers a privileged glimpse of British Columbia's original inhabitants.

When Crowfoot was born in 1830, the Blackfoot Confederacy was a powerful nation living free in the prairies. But as Crowfoot was growing up, earning a reputation for courage and wisdom, the Blackfoot way of life was disintegrating.

Humiliated and bewildered, the Blackfoot had to accept government food rations in order to avoid starvation. Crowfoot, born to be a warrior but destined to become a peacemaker, was the Blackfoot spokesman in this time of crisis. Sensing that settlement was inevitable, and committed above all to peace, he encouraged cooperation with the government and the NWMP.

He persuaded other chiefs to sign treaty Number Seven, and refrained from supporting the Northwest Rebellion. The task of restraining a people who placed a high value on bold warfare was difficult, and Crowfoot's peaceful policies were sometimes unpopular with his own people. Nevertheless, he succeeded in preserving peace between two very different cultures. His success was due to his eloquence and diplomacy, and above all to his personal integrity.

As historian Carlotta Hacker observes in this thoughtful biography, "Crowfoot stood for courage, loyalty, patience, honesty, generosity - virtues that are as old as humankind."

With breathtaking virtuosity, Garry Thomas Morse sets out to recover the appropriated, stolen and scattered world of his ancestral people from Alert Bay to Quadra Island to Vancouver, retracing Captain Vancouver's original sailing route. These poems draw upon both written history and oral tradition to reflect all of the respective stories of the community, which vocally weave in and out of the dialogics of the text.

A dramatic symphony of many voices, Discovery Passages uncovers the political, commercial, intellectual and cultural subtexts of the Native Â­language ban, the potlatch ban and the confiscation and sale of Aboriginal artifacts to museums by Indian agents, and how these actions affected the lives of both Native and non-Native inhabitants of the region. This displacement of language and artifacts reverberated as a profound cultural disjuncture on a personal level for the author's ­people, the Kwakwaka'wakw, as their family and tribal possessions became at once both museum artifacts and a continuation of the Â­tradition of memory through another language. Morse's continuous poetic dialogue of "discovery" and "recovery" reaches as far as the Lenape, the original Native inhabitants of Mannahatta in what is now known as New York, and on across the Atlantic in pursuit of the European roots of the "Voyages of Discovery" in the works of Sappho, Socrates, Virgil and Frazer's The Golden Bough, only to reappear on the American continent to find their psychotic apotheosis in the poetry of Duncan Campbell Scott.

With tales of Chiefs Billy Assu, Harry Assu and James Sewid; the ­family story "The Young Healer"; and transformed passages from Whitman, Pound, Williams and Bowering, Discovery Passages links Kwakwaka'wakw traditions of the past with contemporary poetic ­tradition in B.C. that encompasses the entire scope of ­relations between oral and vocal ­tradition, ancient ritual, historical ­contextuality and our continuing rites.

This oral autobiography of two remarkable Cree women tells their life stories against a backdrop of government discrimination, First Nations activism, and the resurgence of First Nations communities. Nellie Carlson and Kathleen Steinhauer, who helped to organize the Indian Rights for Indian Women movement in western Canada in the 1960s, fought the Canadian government’s interpretation of treaty and Aboriginal rights, the Indian Act, and the male power structure in their own communities in pursuit of equal rights for Aboriginal women and children. After decades of activism and court battles, First Nations women succeeded in changing these oppressive regulations, thus benefitting thousands of their descendants. Those interested in human rights, activism, history, and Native Studies will find that these personal stories, enriched by detailed notes and photographs, form a passionate record of an important, continuing struggle.

Alexander Wolfe is a Saulteaux/Ojibwa storyteller and the keeper of his family's oral history. These stories belong to his family and include accounts of how the descendents of Pinayzitt, a Saulteaux leader who lived in the Northwest Territories of Canada and the Great Plains of the United States in the 1800s, lived on the land, survived the smallpox and flu epidemics, signed treaties, and were confined to reservations.

The stories blend history with legend and prophecy, giving both the equal weight they occupy in Native oral tradition. In their retelling, Wolfe carries out his responsibility of passing on his family's stories to the next generation, as well as encouraging Natives to record their histories and non-Natives to understand the significance and lessons of these tales.

Earth Elder Stories has proven an excellent resource for students of Native Studies, history, linguistics, and literature.

Like the other books in the First Nations Series for Young Readers, this books offers ten short and engaging biographies of First Nations/Native activists who advocate not only for the environment but for Native rights. Their stories are full of highs and lows, triumphs and setbacks. Environmental trailblazers, these men and women are role models for children everywhere.

The men and women profiled here are united by their work to protect the environment and to support indigenous rights. Their stories take us from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to the Black Mesa in Arizona.

Melina Laboucan-Massimo uses her passion to stop oil extraction in Alberta’s tar sands.
Winona LaDuke is a voice for reclaiming Native lands, advocating renewable energy resources, and protecting Native cultures.
Clayton Thomas-Muller is a dynamic advocate for indigenous self-determination and campaigner against tar sands extraction.
Ben Powless brings his youthful energy and skills to addressing climate change issues.
Tom Goldtooth protects sacred sites and organizes global direct-action campaigns for the environment.
Grace Thorpe is a grandmother who dedicated her retirement years to keeping Native reservations from becoming nuclear waste dumps.
Sarah James is a voice from northern Alaska defending the Porcupine caribou herd and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Enei Begaye & Evon Peter are married activists who work as a team on environmental issues and sustainable strategies for Native people.
Klee Benally uses the media to empower Native communities in their fight for environmental justice.
Teague Allston works to ensure a tribal voice is heard in Washington DC.

Louis Riel is regarded by some as a hero and visionary, by others as a madman and misguided religious zealot. The Métis leader who fought for the rights of his people against an encroaching tide of white settlers helped establish the province of Manitoba before escaping to the United States. Gabriel Dumont was a successful hunter and Métis chief, a man tested by warfare, a pragmatist who differed from the devout Riel. Giller Prize—winning novelist Joseph Boyden argues that Dumont, part of a delegation that had sought out Riel in exile, may not have foreseen the impact on the Métis cause of bringing Riel home. While making rational demands of Sir John A. Macdonald's government, Riel seemed increasingly overtaken by a messianic mission. His execution in 1885 by the Canadian government still reverberates today. Boyden provides fresh, controversial insight into these two seminal Canadian figures and how they shaped the country.

Father August Brabant (1845–1912) was the first Roman Catholic missionary to live and work among aboriginal people on the west coast of Vancouver Island during the colonial period. He endured long periods of isolation, built a number of log churches and undertook extraordinarily difficult trips along the west coast in dugout canoes. His thirty-three-year-long effort to transform Nuu-chah-nulth culture gives us a provocative case study of the dynamics that shaped, and continue to define, the settler-colonial relationship between indigenous peoples and the state in Canada. Convinced he had a mission to save the indigenous people from being themselves, the zealous priest strove to instill alien spiritual beliefs. He served as a willing instrument for imposing colonial power by introducing new forms of justice, commerce, dress, housing, personal identity, and—most devastating of all—schooling. As the father of British Columbia's first residential school, Brabant precipitated the single institution that proved most destructive to the people he set out to rescue. Brabant's biography will be of interest to historians, anthropologists, political scientists, individuals engaged in First Nations Studies, and general readers.